With a very temporary lull on the Brett Favre front, I thought I’d hunker down under the radar for a few hours and focus on the Arizona Cardinals, a team that seems to avoid the limelight on a fairly regular basis.

Granted, QB Matt Leinart made some waves early in the offseason with his beer bong, and Anquan Boldin has lately been grousing over a contract that looks like peanuts compared to the new four-year, $40 million deal that fellow WR Larry Fitzgerald signed in late March.

On a national scale, though, the Cardinals remain a lightweight, the proverbial “dark horse in the desert,” so to speak.

But, although I’m not quite bold enough just yet to pick them to win the perpetually ordinary NFC West and steal the defending division champion Seahawks’ thunder, I genuinely believe these 2008 Cardinals have a solid shot at being bona fide spoilers for one pretty significant reason — continuity in the team’s coaching staff.

It’s very much worth noting that every member of head coach Ken Whisenhunt’s 2007 staff is back again for a second straight season. While it might not seem like all that big a deal, consider the turnover that has taken place on the other three NFC West teams’ coaching staffs, starting right off with the Seahawks.

While Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren is back again for one mighty “last hurrah,” the Seahawks have a dramatically revamped staff under him, with a new O-line coach (Mike Solari replacing Bill Laveroni), a new QB coach (Bill Lazor replacing Jim Zorn, who moved on to become the new head coach of the Washington Redskins), a new WR coach (Keith Gilbertson replacing Nolan Cromwell) and a new RB coach (Kasey Dunn replacing Stump Mitchell, who followed Zorn to the nation’s capital).

In St. Louis, Rams head coach Scott Linehan has a whopping six new coaches on his staff, most notably the dynamic and highly regarded Al Saunders, who will be coordinating what is expected to be a dramatically revamped offense with all kinds of lively new wrinkles resurrected from the team’s “Greatest Show on Turf” glory years.

Which bring us to the San Francisco 49ers, who are pinning their hopes for respectability in great part on “Greatest Show on Turf” architect Mike Martz, the team’s new high-profile offensive coordinator.

Ken Whisenhunt

When you also consider a starting offense that is unchanged from last year — unless Ben Patrick takes over the No. 1 TE job from Leonard Pope — and a defense that could have as few as two different starters, you realize that the Cardinals could have a real under-the-radar edge materializing.

In the team’s meeting rooms, for instance, every coach is on the same page. “We aren’t talking about the Steelers or the Cowboys or the Browns; we are talking about the Cardinals now,” said Whisenhunt. “Everything is referenced off the Cardinals.”

Don’t get me wrong. The Cardinals still have some major hurdles they must clear in order to become a bona fide playoff contender.

Leinart has been anointed the starter, but veteran Kurt Warner, who came through with such flying colors after Leinart went down for the count last year in Week Five with a fractured collarbone, is still breathing down Leinart’s neck.

Boldin, meanwhile, is clearly a very unhappy camper at the moment, and although he remains the consummate professional, there are some team insiders who wonder just how much his contract issues might affect his willingness to go all out if, as was the case last year, he is forced to deal with nagging injuries.

Last, but certainly not least, is a ballbuster of a schedule that is much tougher on paper than the one that resulted in an 8-8 record last season, with games against ’07 Super Bowl participants New England and the N.Y. Giants and a Cowboys team that sent 13 players to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl, in addition to playing three of the first four games on the road.

All that said, something tells me the Cardinals just might capture the football world’s attention a great deal more than usual in 2008.

Certainly not on the level of “Favregate,” but a great deal more just the same.